Tag Archives: school

NEW YORK, NY –April 12, 2012 – DoSomething.org wants to save the written word and bring it into the lives of underprivileged kids, one book at a time. With help from Grammy nominated Keri Hilson, DoSomething.org is motivating teens and young people across the country to join in the second nationwide book drive from now until May to bring books to local people in need. This is going to be EPIC; the Epic Book Drive to be exact. Access to books continues to be a barrier in education equality. In fact, 61 percent of low-income families have no age-appropriate books at all in their homes for their children. “This may be a shocking statistic to some kids who have nightmares of endless summer reading lists,” said April Wright, campaign manager of Epic Book Drive. “DoSomething.org’s Epic Book Drive is an extraordinary opportunity to motivate teens to take action around education inequality and give their favorite books to others in need.” Running through May 18, the Epic Book Drive will urge students to lead book drives at their schools and in their communities. DoSomething.org will provide all the help they need to get these drives off the ground and reach success. After teens gather reading materials, they will donate the books to local organizations in need (i.e., Vietnam Veterans of America, Salvation Army, local shelters, etc.) across the country. It’s a win-win situation: young people get rid of old books lying around and underprivileged youth and families get access to books for free or at reduced prices. This campaign is building on the previous year’s success where teens and young people collected over 200,000 books for the New Orleans School District. This year’s campaign has an even bigger goal: to empower teens to collect 500,000 books for underprivileged communities in their local areas. To help reach that goal, Pop/R&B phenomenon Keri Hilson is taking a break from her hectic life as a triple threat to take her change-the-world mentality right to her teen fans’ local communities. By joining DoSomething.org to create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) for Epic Book Drive, Hilson is pushing kids of all ages to put their collection of used or unused books to good use. Hilson is no stranger to helping people in all walks of life. As the founder of the keriCARES! Foundation, she makes a constant effort to focus on her organization’s goal to better the wellbeing of the minds, bodies and souls of women of all ages. “Joining DoSomething.org’s newest effort to provide for people in need with Epic Book Drive was the easiest decision ever! I truly believe providing access to those who want to learn is the key to bettering lives around the country. And helping kids find healthy outlets, such as books, has always been a passion of mine. So my involvement here is a natural fit,” says campaign spokesperson, Keri Hilson. To view Keri Hilson’s PSA, please visit http://youtu.be/7QrJwfh9Wh8. To learn more about ‘Epic Book Drive,’ and how kids can get involved and/or register their own book drive, visit http://www.dosomething.org/epic or text EPIC to 38383.About DoSomething.org:
We love teens. They are creative, active, wired…and frustrated that our world is so messed up. DoSomething.org harnesses that awesome energy and unleashes it on causes teens care about. Almost every week, we launch a new national campaign. The call to action is always something that has a real impact and doesn’t require money, an adult, or a car. With a goal of 5 million active members by 2015, DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the US for teens and social change. Join us at http://www.DoSomething.org.

Michael Bell Jr. received 3 Fs on his latest report card. His father Michael Bell Sr. forced his son to wear a sign that stated he had received 3Fs and stand at a busy intersection with that information on the sign. Bell Sr. says he is trying to keep his son from becoming a statistic. What do you think about the punishment did the father go too far?

The Cambridge School district in Massachusetts has voted to close school to observe a Muslim holiday. This is the first school district in the state to do this. This same request has come up in my school district and has not been approved. The holiday will be observed for the first time November 11, 2011. My question is should other school districts adopt this policy? We celebrate Christian and Jewish holidays shouldn’t we do the same for Islamic holidays? Tell me what you think.

A few weeks ago we saw all of the teachers in a Rhode Island school district get fired. This clean sweep was applauded. The idea was to get rid of the under performing teachers. Some teachers will be given the opportunity to re-apply for their jobs. So let’s get rid of the bad teachers and we can make some positive change, but what about the students. In a recent Newsweek Blackboard Jungle by Pat Wingert, outlined the fact that teachers are nor properly trained in class room management and now the federal government has allocated twenty one million dollars to properly train teachers. Back in the day when students respected and in some cases feared teachers there was order in the class, but that was back when parents and teachers were on the same page. Now if a teacher attempts to correct a student that student will curse the teacher and if the parent is summoned to the school in some cases the parent will do likewise. One of my friends had an issue with her son’s teacher and as she discussed the issue with the teacher I could not help but feel sorry for the teacher as she received a dressing down from my friend. I know she was saying to herself “how did I get into this?” I read an article the other day where a teacher told a student that she was dressed like a prostitute and the student brought her mother to the school to demand an apology. The teacher should not have used that word, but while the mother was looking for the teachers hide did it bother her that her daughter’s hide was out for the world to see? I salute good teachers who can control their students and who are committed to teaching our kids sadly we hear alot about the bad ones, but there are alot of goods ones doing well under difficult circumstances.